Magic Lantern Boosts Your Canon DSLR's Video Capabilities

If you love your video-capable Canon DSLR but wish it had more video options, Magic Lantern can help you out. Offering a number of additional features for your camera, it can aid in your ability to shoot some amazing video.

We've taken a brief look at Magic Lantern before in our DSLR video guide, but never gave it the spotlight. That's a shame, because Magic Lantern is probably one of of the coolest upgrades available for your video-capable Canon DSLR.

What does it do?

Don't you mean what doesn't it do? It does nothing if you don't own a Canon DSLR with video capabilities. If you do, however, Magic Lantern lets you program a mechanical rack focus, offers several new manual audio settings, lets you control just about everything video-related manually, offers new frame rates and higher bit rates for your video, and a whole lot more. It also bereaves you of the warmth and safety that comes with your warranty, as installing third-party firmware could potentially brick your camera. So be careful.

Who's it for?

The hardcore video enthusiast on a budget who's also comfortable installing third-party software on a camera they've spent two month's salary to own. Also, people who just want more video-related features on their Canon DSLR.

What's the bottom line?

If you like living on the edge or just love the promise of a wealth of features that Canon didn't provide with their video-capable DSLR offerings, you should give Magic Lantern a go. After all, it's free and has a great community behind it.